It’s that time of the year where people everywhere look at the new year as a fresh start.

Earlier last week I was on Twitter having a great discussion with Wallace from Unputdownables. We were discussing our reading goals for 2010. I confessed that I read more books in 2008 than I did in 2009 so one of my resolutions for 2010 is to read at least 235 books this year while Wallace wants to read at least 100 books in 2010.

We both admitted that if we are going to accomplish our goals, we need to disconnect from time-suckers like TV and the internet. Though it’s great to catch up on our favorite shows or read interesting posts or whatever online, there’s so much time being taken away from reading. We decided to start a personal challenge where we replace one bad habit with a good one. It is that time of the year, right? Wallace is replacing TV with more reading while I’m replacing spending hours online with reading.

We’re calling our challenge, Dare to Disconnect. The plan is to post an update on how we’re doing at the beginning of each month throughout 2011. We’re also giving each other encouragement through email, posts, and Twitter. If this sounds like something you would like to do, feel free to join us. Just leave a comment here or on Wallace’s blog.

To help me achieve my goal, I plan to limit the amount of time I’m online. No more losing hours to different articles or website. No more playing games online. Instead I’ll write my posts offline instead of online, pick out my homework ahead of time for my online classes and check my email only once a day instead of the millions of time I check now. I think being specific and having some kind of plan of action is going to help. We’ll see how I’m doing in February.

38 Responses to Dare to Disconnect Challenge

That is a really good resolution. And maybe I should try to join you? But it is so hard! It would really help with keeping focused on school instead of checking twitter and my email all the time when I should be writing an essay.

I have actually been considering something like this for quite some time. I do check email (and blogs) multiple times per day – and “as long as I’m online” I end up surfing the web for hours rather than minutes. I think if I limit my online activity to early morning and late evening, I would have the peak hours of the day reserved to do more productive things.

I need to experiment with writing my posts off-line. That sounds like a great idea.

You really read a huge amount of books, even while “connected” to other things! I don’t spend a lot of time watching tv but like Kathy I do spend a lot of time on the computer, and most of my time is sort of fooling around time. I would love to cut back on that!

I have been attempting to disconnect for the last few months as well, and though I am doing better, I still have a long way to go. I think I am going to try this as well, though I don’t know how well I will do. Thanks for posting this and getting me caught up in the idea!!

Sounds good but I’M NOT READY! Idol is going to start and I know that will suck me into TV world. But yes, I could and need to do better with managing my time so that I can do what I keep saying is important to me…
Happy New Year!

You know I’m in! 🙂 I kind of started right after we talked and it’s been going pretty well! I’ve finished two books and am on the third (My second of 2011 so far) and have had the TV turned off a lot. Not as hard as I thought it would be, but we’ll see if I’m still saying that in few months, haha!

Yes, Tasha! I meant 2011! LOL! I’ve seen you mention the one hour of reading on twitter and I think that is such a great idea! I’ve tried a few times. It is hard but it feels so good to dedicate time to reading!

I gave up TV several years ago and haven’t missed it much. I do watch TV shows through Netflix, but I have to make a choice to watch, which makes a huge difference.

But I really did to be better about disconnecting from the computer. I’ve started trying to stay off the computer on Saturdays after my early morning checking of e-mails and blog reading (and perhaps a check before bed). I’ve also found a couple of helpful tools. If you use Firefox, Leechblock can shut you out of certain sites a certain times. And Freedom will close down your Internet connection altogether for however long you want. Neither quite does what I want, but they’ve both helped to some degree.

I really want to be more aware of how I spend my time. I don’t really watch much t.v. but the internet sucks up a lot of my time. I’m hoping to set some kind of schedule and see if I can stick with it. Good luck with your goals!

I’ve never been an avid tv fan, but I must admit to my computer stealing some sacred time! My husband goes to the television after dinner, I turn on my computer, and wham! There goes several hours I could have spent reading. So, I’m with you on the disconnect.

Sounds great. I’ve tried to cut out watching TV for this very reason. This year, I’m not limiting my TV watching per se, but I’ve made some big goals to do daily that’ll require cutting out a lot of TV watching. I haven’t even watched a thing in the New Year…feels good!

What an admirable challenge! I’m pretty good about not just randomly browsing, and my husband and I don’t own a TV, but reading book blogs takes up a huge chunk of time. I’m trying to figure out how to get that down to a manageable time commitment without being less involved. Still working on how I’ll do it 🙂

Sounds like a great challenge. I’ve been reading before I go to bed and NOT checking my email on my iPhone like I have done in the past. It is a small step but I will get many more reading hours in over the course of the year by not multi-tasking so darn much.

I have resolved to throw more audiobooks into the mix. So I’m also cutting back on my feed reader, morning news reading and podcasts so I can listen to audiobooks in the morning as well as my regular reading. As a 1st-year school librarian I’m finding audiobooks a great way to catch up with kid’s lit while still being able to read “grown-up” books of my own interests later in the day.

Great goals. I’m online all day because of work, so I can’t disconnect. On the other hand, I’m going to try reading blogs in batches instead of off and on all day every day. I hope that gets me away from the computer more when I’m not working.

I don’t think this is the year for me to disconnect because I really just started to get going with the blogging. However, I already see how it is so easy to loose reading time with the increase of blogging. I am still one to print out blog articles that I want to read, that way I am not online and I am still reading what I want. Then again, all those who worry about saving paper would not agree 🙂